Apple makes a preliminary move.
- Thread starter Entropy
- Start date
Well if you click the link there you'd see.
I'm not certain why it would have so much but keep in mind that the ipod does have a higher resolution than the PSP. (480x320 vs 480x272)
They can certainly afford to have that much onboard with their sell price being in 300- $400 range
Well games for handheld are $40 new and who knows what the royalties are.
Whereas, it would take a lot of iTunes download sales to equal royalties from a PSP game.
Not everything sold on iTunes is 99 cents, but I'm not sure what this has to do with the amount of memory found on the iphone/touch and my comment was only suggesting it's profitable.
He may be alluding to the fact that Apple isn't one to use the razors and razorblades model. They make the bulk of their profit upfront from high margins on hardware.
Are you trying to make it sound like a disadvantage having profitable hardware? Do you think Apple initially charged $500 for the iPhone because they had to charge that much, or because they could charge that much?
and apple has sold more than 3 billion songs, 100 million TV shows, I think they probably have some idea how to make money off of media.
Have hope? Has anyone in this thread said 'I hope Apple make a games device'? AFAICS, and certainly from my POV, I'm just entertaining the possibility of Aple doing well with a games enhanced iPod that benefits from iTunes. I couldn't care less if they release such a product or not!
Discussion of different POV from you is pointless, and if you think something is unlikely, we should stop anyone speculating to the contrary? How much evidence was there for a huge MP3 player+download music market prior to its existence, or evidence for waggle controls prior to Wii's release? You don't always have real evidence but best guesses and empirical expectations...
Take something to literal much? I'm fairly confident you know exactly what I meant, but it if it fits your point feel free to change it... Speculating would be fine if you all could agree what it is you're speculating about. Half the replies have been for something different yet keep pointing out these markets they could go after, but when questioned about these markets can't identify them or call them "obvious" when others say they're not. Anyway, there was clear evidence a MP3 market could grow simply because people like music and portable music players had existed for some time, make a smaller package but hold more songs and you're surely to sell something. As for the Wii; interface changes have worked before as well. It was something new, something in a new price range for launch. If someone could show a reasonable place where Apple could do that then fine, but no one has yet.
Why should we all back the same POV? We're all individuals and not an Apple Gaming Promotion Committee! There's good chance half the people disagreeing with you disagree with each other too!
Gaming is also popular, and increasingly so, so combining gaming with the already ubiquitous portable music player makes sense. Portable video playback didn't exist (en masse) before the extension of MP3 players into that unproven demographic but it has worked out. Combining a camera with a phone wasn't based on any prior market but has proven extremely popular.
And they've also flopped terribly. The market for waggle control wasn't proven before Wii's release. It was speculated on. There wasn't so much evidence for it as a sense that it was a good idea. There's a similar sense that adding motion controls to a standard controller would be awesome, but that speculation hasn't done so well for PS3. There's speculation, not hard evidence, that adding value to the portable media device that has extended music players to music+video players with gaming would be a Good Thing. Some people agree with that speculation, and some don't, but it's not a sure-fire Dumb Thing to do because there's no much evidence or precedent, as other success and failures have shown the fickle nature of consumerism and that there are no certainties.
Just who are you talking about, however? From what I've seen in the thread, any serious comment hasn't mentioned how "special" they'd be, nor talked about new hardware possibilities, but rather speculated on how much impact Apple could have by promoting and distributing games more through their existing products, and how successful it might be in the casual gaming market.
...and if handled correctly, it certainly could be. Perhaps it wouldn't draw in the revenues of gaming systems dedicated solely to gaming and shifting impressive $20-40 titles, but there's something to be said for mass distribution of $5 (perhaps stretching up to $10) games. I mean, look how many people grab $5-6 ancient, emulated titles on the 360, Wii, and PS3.
More people tend to carry around their music player a lot more often (and there's no denying that the DS and PSP make for larger and less capable music/media players, excepting in screen size with the PSP) and to a lot more places than they do a DS/PSP/GBA (usually they'll bring those when they know they'll have a block of completely free time to dedicate to it), and with the iPhone they get the "carry everywhere" side-effect of cell phones, which means the games will simply "be there" even if they didn't expect to play them, without the need to carry another device with them. The price comparison to cell phones is apt (actually, cell phone games tend to be more expensive), but the disparaging comparisons don't have much of a place. These games are splintered beyond belief by cell phone network, cell phone screen size, control scheme, processing power... They're aiming at the lowest common denominator, and have no central... well... anything. The advantage the iPodosphere has is that the processors are capable, the control schemes are pretty much uniform (obviously not between classic iPods and the iPhone/Touch), and there would be one centralized source for them--and the already existing market base to build off, that is already popular for entirely different reasons. Games don't have to be a focus, but they can certainly take advantage of the ride. Meanwhile, the multi-touchscreen can make for versatile, entirely-customizable controls for anyone's game, so games don't have to be wedged any which way a phone manufacturer sticks them... the actual games developers control what they want and where.
Could they make something of it? They certainly could. Does a trademark extension point specifically to a fervent desire to do so? Not really. But once the full SDK is released, they'll be having developers beating on their doors like MAD to be able to sell fun, simple, and addictive games through iTunes even for just $5. (Especially since they'll be able to attach networking features and perhaps draw iPhone users over to their own website for more revenue.)
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[modhat]Please keep things civil, people. There's far more heat in this thread than it could ever wanted, with polarized interpretations of some pretty open ideas. Just stick to discussing the topic and presenting your arguments, rather than complaining about how people are arguing etc.[/modhat]
The basis of some arguments has required the backing of others to have any point, by their own words in fact have they said this. Not all. Some have come at my counter arguments with completely different and unrelated ones. So I'd love for us to decide what it is we're even talking about. I'm not the only one calling some of these ideas crazy but I'm the only one saying it directly.
That's why I've been--quite seriously--asking what "crazy ideas" is it you're addressing. So far as I can tell, no one has suggested anything close to what many of your replies were suggesting. Though there seems to be a bit of taking one of Mize's comments (that, as with the PS1, a new player entering a market and becoming quickly prominent-if-not-dominant) and misinterpreting some of his earlier ones through it.
No one--not even Mize--was suggesting a new platform creation, which is why they quickly brought up the price points and positioning of existing products, were talking about specs of the existing products, inquiring about battery life... Everyone has been wondering what shape it might take, and how it might compare, and to what existing Apple products it might extend to (while assuming the iPhone/Touch would be the primary platform, which is a logical assumption).
The only comment I can even see insinuating anything else is when Diamond.G came in, but he was addressing no points made in the thread bur rather fanciful comments made on a Mac forum. After that followed a lot of conflating "new handhelds" not mentioned but rather insinuated mainly by the people trying to say it's a bad idea (which was agreed to by all the people still-not-insinuating-it), and then "game prices compared to a DS or cell phone" with "yet another not-insinuated new Apple portable price compared to the DS."
To sum up: No one on this forum and in this thread--not a one--has suggested that Apple would be seriously considering releasing a gaming-specific handheld and that it would be a good idea.
(And Shifty, you can tell me where on the "civility" meter this lies, but I'm honestly trying to get us on the same track with Skyring and others. Admittedly, I let a bit more snark bleed through earlier, but I could honestly not follow his train of thought, as everything else had been--IMHO--pretty plainly presented. Especially after both you and archangelmorph addressed the confusion directly on Page 2. If not thoroughly stamped out, the confusion just seems to breed more.)
No one--not even Mize--was suggesting a new platform creation, which is why they quickly brought up the price points and positioning of existing products, were talking about specs of the existing products, inquiring about battery life... Everyone has been wondering what shape it might take, and how it might compare, and to what existing Apple products it might extend to (while assuming the iPhone/Touch would be the primary platform, which is a logical assumption).
The only comment I can even see insinuating anything else is when Diamond.G came in, but he was addressing no points made in the thread bur rather fanciful comments made on a Mac forum. After that followed a lot of conflating "new handhelds" not mentioned but rather insinuated mainly by the people trying to say it's a bad idea (which was agreed to by all the people still-not-insinuating-it), and then "game prices compared to a DS or cell phone" with "yet another not-insinuated new Apple portable price compared to the DS."
To sum up: No one on this forum and in this thread--not a one--has suggested that Apple would be seriously considering releasing a gaming-specific handheld and that it would be a good idea.
(And Shifty, you can tell me where on the "civility" meter this lies, but I'm honestly trying to get us on the same track with Skyring and others. Admittedly, I let a bit more snark bleed through earlier, but I could honestly not follow his train of thought, as everything else had been--IMHO--pretty plainly presented. Especially after both you and archangelmorph addressed the confusion directly on Page 2. If not thoroughly stamped out, the confusion just seems to breed more.)
This post is 'snark free' and outlines certainly where you and I are and how I understand most others are talking. Again, we're not a committee but a splodge of people scattered all over the world, so it would be presumptuous to say everyone is in agreement with me/you. We only have our interpretations of what people have written which is itself limited by how they managed to express themselves, but it does seem logical when reading their comments that we're all on pretty much the same page. If Skyring is addressing directly the idea of a DS beating handheld, the best action would be to quote and respond directly to whoever floated that idea, giving that person the chance to either explain why they think what they do in the light of Skyring's counterpoints, or to explain that wasn't actually their viewpoint and things have got muddled.
I read that first as "spooge of people," and was, like... 
At any rate, my sarcastic ass is off for an extended weekend, so I guess I'll find out if this thread has gone anywhere else on Monday. ^_^
At any rate, my sarcastic ass is off for an extended weekend, so I guess I'll find out if this thread has gone anywhere else on Monday. ^_^
Some "insider" info… it's for the iPod, iPhone family.
http://www.developmag.com/news/29290/iPod-is-Apples-game-gateway-says-insider
http://www.developmag.com/news/29290/iPod-is-Apples-game-gateway-says-insider
